Wednesday, 23 September 2015

The Fallacy of “Middle East Exceptionalism"

Dr. Mojtaba Mahdavi

September 21, 2015

Five years after the
popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, the region remains in a
deep and profound crisis. The rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the breakout of
proxy war in Yemen and Syria, the chaos and collapse of the Libyan polity, the failure
of Islamists in power and the subsequent return of a military regime in Egypt,
and the survival of autocratic regimes in Saudi Arabia and other Arab
monarchies have largely contributed to the revival of an old and naive cliché
about the Middle East.

This cliché suggests
the violent culture of the Middle East exceptionally resists democratic ideals
and institutions. We often hear this line of argument, known as the “Middle
East Exceptionalism,” in the media. However, this is a very simplistic reading
of the current events in the region. Here is the counterargument:

In 2010-11, millions
of ordinary people – men and women, young and old, religious and secular,
Muslims and non-Muslims – came to the streets of the region and demanded Hurriyya (freedom),
‘Adāla ijtimā‘iyya (social justice), and Karāmā (dignity).They
wanted tooverthrow the dominant regimes. Their slogans were
indicative of a quest for democracy and social justice. There was no demand for
Islamic state; there was no indication of the “clash of civilizations” between
the West and the Middle East. There was nothing exceptional to the Middle
Eastern culture and values.

However, ordinary
people in the region and their quest for democracy and social justice are
caught between a rock and a hard place: between extremism in the name of jihad
and foreign intervention (regional states and global powers) in the name of
humanitarian intervention; between acting terror (by al-Qaeda, ISIS and the
like) and orchestrating the “Global War on Terror” (by global and regional
states). The people and their civil rights movements are victims of local
extremists, regional proxy wars and global politics of domination. Let us not
blame the victims!

The popular uprisings
of 2010-11 created a historical momentum and remarkable memories of revolt and
resistance for the ordinary people. For this generation, these revolutions are
unfinished projects. Many Middle East and North African societies and cultures
have gone through profound social changes and structural transformations in the
past few decades. The old order is dying and the new one is emerging. Keeping
the status quo is no longer possible. The genie is out of the bottle and
more progressive changes have yet to come.

Change, however, is
not easy. Freedom is not free; it is costly. The current crisis does not
indicate a popular consent; dominant politics most often do not represent the
public opinion. People are not silent; they are silenced. Nonetheless, there is
a constant and “quiet encroachment” (Bayat 2013) of a young and restless
generation to achieve the goals of the 2010-11 revolutions. The
contemporary social movements in the region
are open-ended and unfinished projects.

Italian Philosopher Antonio
Gramsci (1971) has reminded us we need to overcome the “pessimism of the
intellect” by the “optimism of the will.”

Mojtaba Mahdavi is the ECMC Chair in Islamic
Studies and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of
Alberta. His recent books include Towards the Dignity of Difference? Neither
End of History nor Clash of Civilizations (co-editor, Ashgate Publishing 2012);
Under the Shadow of Khomeinism: Problems and Prospects for Democracy in
Post-revolutionary Iran (forthcoming); and Towards a Progressive Post-Islamism:
Neo-Shariati Discourse in Postrevolutionary Iran (co-editor, in progress). He
was the guest editor of Sociology of Islam on “Contemporary Social Movements in
the Middle East and Beyond” (2014). See more at: http://meis.ualberta.ca/chair/

Department of Political Science, University of Alberta

What do political scientists do? Politics is about power, and political science understands the processes, ideas, and institutions through which power is structured, as well as power's effects. Thus, we look at subjects that range from Canadian elections and political parties to the ethics of war and post-conflict management, from the political economy of the global South to theories of justice and citizenship, and from environmental movements to gender relations. In the Department of Political Science, our research and teaching engage with the big questions and with the critical events that shape politics around the world.